We’ll be talking about Iran a lot in the near future in the United States. I doubt we’ll invade the country (thank god). But one thing I think needs to be emphasized: on social issues Iran is more “progressive” than many of our close allies in the region, like Saudi Arabia, and one of the more progressive nations in the region. This is neither here nor there in the domain of geopolitics, but to convince a public about something it is often necessary to make a cartoon or caricature the enemy. I think it is important to remember though that aside from Israel our closest allies in the region are techno-feudal monarchies like Saudi Arabia, not those nations, like Iran, which have made a more thorough accommodation with modernity out of necessity (because oil can’t support the whole economy). It also reminds us that labels like “Islamic Republic” may not be totally useful.

As a gauge of modern outlook, as understood in the West, I poked around the World Values Survey. The results are for wave 4, around ~2000. The question asked was: A wife must always obey her husband. Possible answers:
– Agree strongly
– Agree
– Neither agree or disagree
– Disagree
– Strongly disagree

Below are two tables with nations which responded to this question. I stratified by sex and educational level of respondents. The sample sizes are in the “Total” column. The other numbers are percentages, summed along the rows to 100%. There are some surprises, but I’ll let the data speak for itself….

Here’s another shocker. It turns out that the Iranian election in 1979 was rigged. OMG – who knew?

pconroy

Hmmm, so 79% of Nigerian women agree strongly that a wife must always obey her husband.

…how much are the air fares to Lagos again??

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp Razib Khan

#1, what’s your point? be clearer or i’ll ban you.

http://ironrailsironweights.wordpress.com Peter

Are the Nigerian responses limited to the Muslim population?

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp Razib Khan

#4, no. 86% for muslims, 82% for xtians.

zach

Hi Razib,

nice blog post. I just went to the WVS to see how the US would stack up on the same question. However, it looks like this question was not asked among the US surveys….. I would imagine European countries would be strongly negative but I am curious how strong the traditionalists in the US would answer this question. Pakistan’s answer was certainly surprising to me.

Anthony

Interesting that Pakistan has less difference between male and female responses than does Iran, but still higher than most other Muslim countries.

If I wanted to trade in stereotypes, I’d guess that the high female disagreement among Iranian women stemmed from a more general attitude among Iranians that the world revolves around themselves, or from more Iranian than Arab women sharing that sort of attitude.

http://whywereason.com Sam McNerney

I suppose it’s important to understand Iran relative to its neighbors. But it is still morally unacceptable for so many of its citizen to think this way.

As a British/Iranian, the result of your pole does not surprise me about Iranian Men/Women views. However, I would (like John Emerson) like to ask how do these figuers compare with US and UK? Maybe then we can have a better understanding of your figures.

http://washparkprophet.blogspot.com ohwilleke

One could argue something similar on democratic politics. Iran is certainly not a full and free democracy, but its elections are more democratic the systems of Saudi Arabia, Oman, pre-Iraq War Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, pre-revolution Libya, pre-revolution Yemen, pre-revolution Egypt, or Syria (or for that matter Cuba or North Korea).

In Iran, there are genuine decisions within the realm of theocratic acceptability between genuinely differing candidates and the democratic institutions in revolutionary Iran have some real power and are not pure consultive or figurehead institutions. Overall, its position on the demcracy to dictatorship scale is on a par with China perhaps.

Iran is less democratic than Turkey or contemporary Indonesia, and probably less democratic than Pakistan or Bangladesh.

An understanding of the social and political “moderation” of Iran relative to some of its neighbors as being a function of the need for representation when the state needs taxation and can’t simply rely on ownership of natural resources is also a pretty plausible analysis of why it is this way, although it doesn’t do much to explain why a country like Pakistan isn’t much better democratically and politically than it actually seems to be.

Michelle

Anthony #7…Exactly what do you mean by “If I wanted to trade in stereotypes, I’d guess that the high female disagreement among Iranian women stemmed from a more general attitude among Iranians that the world revolves around themselves.” I have lived in many different countries, including Iran, and I have found that every country suffers from the belief that the world revolves around it. Americans are irritated when they see this attitude in others, but they too suffer from a delusion of cultural and moral superiority.

http://lyingeyes.blogspot.com ziel

What are the US numbers?

Those are the only countries for which there are data for that question. It appears to have only been asked in Muslim countries.

http://urbanrealist.blogspot.com John smith

That’s too broad of a question. A more interesting question would be to ask whether a woman should be stoned to death for adultery or sex outside marriage. The international community condemned iran for that sentence. Well, let’s see whether the policy is the goverment’s idea or a reflection of the people’s view.

hass

In Iran, you’ll find a world class reduction in fertility (with the Mideast’s only condom factory, and mandatory sex ed classes), massive program to build cars that run on natural gas, world class AIDS programs, free needle exchange programs for addicts, government funded sex change operations, a system of healthcare for the poor that is being used as a model inbthe US, teaching evolution, etc.

Michelle, cannot agree with you more. Well said. As for Anthony, look up in history, Persians had human right charter 2500 years ago. Maybe that history has a little bit to do with the attitude of Iranians!

Eugenick

Nothing unexpected. Unlike the Saudis, Iranians actually have a recent secular past & traditions to cling to, in this case the progressive Pahlavi regime. Similarly, Pakistanis have the British secular traditions to remember, although more distant in time.

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About Razib Khan

I have degrees in biology and biochemistry, a passion for genetics, history, and philosophy, and shrimp is my favorite food. In relation to nationality I'm a American Northwesterner, in politics I'm a reactionary, and as for religion I have none (I'm an atheist). If you want to know more, see the links at http://www.razib.com